The Pulpit Commentary — Matthew — Volume 1 — Section 468

was during the period of absence of the twelve, after they had been "commanded " that John was beheaded. The entire current of this chapter, that seems so excepti~nal iu, its character in some respects, is blown upon and troubled, as it were, by that presence, an ever-disturbing one, the phenomenal one, of unbelief. Notic&- 1. A PROPHET'S FORESEEING OF THE WORKING OF UNBELIEF, POSSIBLY EVEN BErNG TOUCHED WITH A FEELING OF IT filMSELF; AND HIS PROVISION AGAINST IT, WHETHER FOB HIS PEOPLE ALONE OR FOB THE BAKE OF HIMSELF AND TIIEM:. lt is- saici. by Jesus Christ ~ere that a grea~r proJ?het had not arisen than John _the Baptist. He had heralded Chnst ; he had baptized him; he had announced and pomted to him as "the Lamb of God that taketh away the sins of the world," and worthily had he already confessed him and the truth before the gainsayina and the unaodly. It is- just conceivable that, in his prison and bonds, some untowa~d wave of do~bt may have crossed his peaceful breast. But it is all the more unlikely, whereas we read that it was when he heard through his disciples of the mighty works of Christ that he sent the question, "Art_thou he that should come, or do we look for another?" Again, as his e'?d dre~ near, it was certainly not merely plausibly, but justly and really likely, that his anxiety for the informed faith, and the strong, firm faith of his disciples, should be quickened. Had the evangelist made one comment of his own that the reason of John, when be sent his interrogation to his Lord and Master, was " to the end that" his own little flock, soon to be as sheep without their Shepherd, "might" the rather "believe," and might not fail to know the one, only good Shepherd, this old question would never once have been stirred. That neither of the evangelists does this need be no surprise at all to us, unless indeed it might be to a suggestion of our too easily awakina unbelief, oscillating as we so often are, between unbelief and credulity. And see, ther;fore, "the mighty works," say his disciples to John; and he to them again, "the mighty works;" and he sends two of them to Jesus, and he also, having done afresh all a glorioUB circle -0f mighty works, while they witnessed, he, of his own abounding sweet grace, grace to teach, and grace to help, and grace to guard the astray, and to confirm the weak, takes up the word, and re-echoes it home to the prison-" the mighty works I •• -these "that I do bear witness of me." And, at all events, we are not told that the mission and the return message were in vain. If it were so, that John himself needs for the last earthly agony one more reviving word of the Holy One, he has it ; and for their life his followers and disciples have it. Was it, indeed, a last word of recognition of his servant by the Lord and Master and Saviour of him, that there was added the benediction, "And blessed is he who shall not be offended in me",? John the Baptist was too near the blessing now to let it slip; too near to be permitted to let it slip, or to slip himself from the grasp, or be plucked from the hand of that Saviour. The works of Christ, the works of Christianity, the works of the Christian, and the works of the man who says he is such, but in works denies it, are, and shall be to the end, the test of each respectively. II. THE UNEXPECTED OCCASION THAT CHRIST, EVER WATCHFUL, UTILIZES, IN ORDER TO DIRECT AND TO AID THE BELIEF OF "THE MULTITUDES." John the Baptist had roused a vast awount of attention in the nation. He had not failed in a jot of the accomplishment of the work he had been appointed to do, and ha.d been announced centuries past, as appointed to do; nor had he failed in the realization of the character, and all that belonged to it, which was prophesied as the mark of him. It appears (ver. 7) that "multitudes" had been present whila Jesus had given audience to the deputa,- tion from John the Baptist, and had given answer to them also. Christ had, of course, ever approved of the attention that the nation had given to the appearance and preaoh- of his forerunner. But of what use, and to what end was it, that they gave attention to that herald if they proceeded no further, if they did not " come to him"? The threefold question of Christ leads up now to this, and bears strictly upon the question of the people's belief. The question is, "What was it ye went out into the wilderness to see?" They went out in wondering, excited throngs. They heard a preacher of novel utterance; they saw a peruonage of unusual habit and diet; some believed and some believed not, but all bad their thoughts, and all talked and argued. When con-- fronted with the question, it was impossible to them to answer that they had gone out for notLing; impossible for them to admit that they had gone out t_o see a mere natural product, a mere native of the desert, stunted grass, or a trembling barren reed, the OH. xr.1-30.] THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO ST. MATTHEW. 46i